January 30, 2001

BULLETIN NO. 01-05

TO THE HEADS AND ACTING HEADS OF EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS AND

AGENCIES

SUBJECT: Government Hiring Controls

Purpose. This Bulletin provides guidance on the hiring controls established by Assistant to the
President and Chief of Staff Andrew Card’s January 20, 2001 Memorandum for Heads and
Acting Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies, “Government Hiring Controls.”

Background and coverage. The January 20th Memorandum asks departments and agencies to
ensure that the President’s appointees have the opportunity to make personnel decisions
consistent with the President’s goals for Government reform, in particular making Government
more responsive to the needs of citizens, more efficient, and more accountable. The hiring
control procedures required by the Memorandum are designed to provide that opportunity.

The Memorandum applies to all Executive departments and agencies.

This Bulletin supersedes the January 22, 2001 memo on hiring controls issued by the Office of
Personnel Management.

Required actions. No decision relating to hiring shall be made until it has been reviewed and
approved by a department or agency head appointed by the President after noon on January 20,
2001, and confirmed by the Senate.

C Department or agency heads appointed by the President after noon on January 20, 2001,
and confirmed by the Senate may delegate the power of review and approval consistent
with applicable law.

C Actions taken pursuant to the Memorandum must be taken in accordance with law,
including, but not limited to, statutes setting minimum hiring levels and appropriate
funding for hiring.

C Contracts with non-governmental entities or persons are not to be used to avoid the hiring
controls.

C The hiring controls apply to all hiring decisions, except as noted below:

- Appointments made with the approval of the Assistant to the President for
Presidential Personnel and Deputy to the Chief of Staff.
 - Internal career ladder promotions and with-in grade increases.

- Placement of persons with restoration rights accorded by law, such as restoration

after absence with injury compensation and restoration after military duty.

- Placement of an agency’s surplus and displaced employees who are eligible under the
Career Transition Assistance Program.

- Conversion to the competitive service of persons completing employment programs

with conversion authority, such as Veterans Readjustment Act appointments, Thirty-
Percent Disabled Veterans, and Presidential Management Interns.

• Official job offers extended before January 20, 2001 may be honored.

These controls do not apply to agencies where the department or agency head has already been
appointed and confirmed. The newly appointed agency head has the authority to establish
appropriate mechanisms and delegations to review and approve hiring decisions.

These procedures are subject to such exceptions as the Director of the Office Management and
Budget (OMB) may grant as necessary to ensure the continued operation of essential
Government functions, including those affecting safety, health, or national security, and
provision of essential Government services, such as the delivery of social security or veterans
benefits.

Requests for exceptions should be made by the acting head of the department or agency, and
should be submitted to the agency’s Resource Management Office in OMB.

In the longer term, every department or agency head will be expected to develop a plan to meet
the President’s goal of reducing management ranks. Guidance on the development of these
plans will be issued by OMB later.

All independent regulatory agencies or other Government establishments whose political

appointees by law or custom will not change with the new Administration, are encouraged to
adopt the hiring control procedures.

Contact. Questions regarding this Bulletin should be directed to the agency’s OMB
representative.

/S/
Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr.
Director